


Unpoisoned Apple

by Diary



Series: Where the Apple Falls [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Aunt-Niece Relationship, Awkward Conversations, Bechdel Test Pass, Cross-Generational Friendship, Gen, Interspecies, Interspecies Friendship, Late Night Conversations, Love, POV Female Character, POV Kate Argent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-24 14:03:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6155998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Repost. The reply holds the sound of a recently cracked teenage boy’s voice, and she automatically knows, if she survives, she’s going to have to work with him on speaking loudly and clearly. There’s no fear or nervousness in his tone, but quietness has a tendency to make people hear those things. Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unpoisoned Apple

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Teen Wolf.

At least, she thinks, big brother will be happy to finally be rid of me.

However, there’s a roar, and the bite or kill never comes.

She looks up to see an unknown person in front of her.

“She’s a hunter,” Ennis says.

“She’s on Hale territory,” is the quiet response.

The reply holds the sound of a recently cracked teenage boy’s voice, and she automatically knows, if she survives, she’s going to have to work with him on speaking loudly and clearly. There’s no fear or nervousness in his tone, but quietness has a tendency to make people hear those things.

“I will be speaking to your mother.”

Then, Ennis is leaving, and she just barely hears, “My mother doesn’t even like you.”

Should have said it to his face, kid, she thinks.

The kid turns to her, and she can see the confusion as the moonlight hits green eyes.

Sighing, she says, “If you want to kill me, do it. If not, give me your hand, and take away enough pain so that I can walk.”

“You shouldn’t walk.” However, he obediently kneels down and holds out his hand. “It’s not good to take away the pain of humans, because they can end up causing more damage without the pain to tell them their limits.”

Rolling her eyes, she tells him, “I once walked almost two miles on a broken leg.”

“Oh,” he says. “Sorry.”

“You weren’t the cause,” she tells him. “Don’t apologise unless you have something to apologise for.”

“It’s a way of expressing-”

“If you want to express sympathy, say, ‘That sucks. I’m glad you managed to get through it.’”

“Okay,” he agrees.

She resists the urge to remind him he’s a preternatural creature who could kill her in less than a heartbeat.

He makes a sound of protest when she lets go of his hand.

“Limits, right? I know mine. Be still, I’m going to use your shoulder.”

Carefully, she stands up and reaches over to pick up her defective Taser.

Her mother always wanted her to learn how to use knives and arrows, but she’s always had more of a connection to guns and Tasers. This doesn’t excuse the fact she didn’t bring any guns, she knows.

“Um, I’m Derek. Derek Hale,” he says, and she realises he’s cautiously following her.

“Kate Argent,” she answers. “My dad’s the psychopath your mother killed.”

He stops following her.

She doesn’t bother looking back and telling him she’s just in town to kill Ennis. Talia Hale isn’t a danger to normal humans.

When she gets near the town, she stops, leans against the tree, and takes a breath.

A wolf appears and looks up at her with red eyes.

“Ennis is biting people without consent,” she says. “You want to kill me, go ahead, but more will come until he’s put down.”

Talia briefly bows her head.

“You might want to find your boy,” Kate continues. “Derek. He saved my life.”

Talia wanders off.

…

She’d assumed all the Hale kids were home-schooled, but when she gets into the high school’s swimming gym and sees a gangly, black-haired boy take her in and immediately slink into the darkest corner of the well-lit room he can find, she knows he must be Derek.

“Front and centre, Hale,” she orders.

Slowly, with his whole body tightly coiled and pressed together, he complies.

“Okay, kiddos, who knows what the steps to administering CPR are?”

…

When class is over, she orders, “Hale, stay.”

He nods, and she notices he hasn’t moved from the bench and packed up his things.

After everyone else is gone, she informs him, “I can fail you. And I will if you don’t answer the questions you know the answer to.”

“But- yes, Miss Argent,” he says.

“I get it. You’re supposed to lie low. Believe me, I don’t want you causing trouble any more than your pack does. There’s a difference between staying under the radar and fitting in. Work on fitting in.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he answers, and she knows he’s debating whether to ask permission to go or to just ride out her lecture.

“What’s your next class?”

“Um, I go home for lunch,” he tells her. “Or not usually- but for this week. My uncle picks me up.”

“Get your stuff,” she says.

When he does, she puts a hand on his shoulder and says, “Come on. Does he pick you up out front?”

“Yes,” he answers.

She grabs her leggings and slips them on.

“It’s cold outside,” he tells her.

She grabs her jacket and shoes, slips them both on, and re-establishes contact with his shoulder.

They wait outside until a black car pulls up.

“If you want to eat at home, I don’t care, but tell your mom it’s unlikely for me to go after you at school. I hunt people who terrorise humans. A little boy who lurks in the shadows isn’t very high on my list.”

“Lurking?” Then, “I’m sixteen.”

“Don’t keep your uncle waiting.”

For a second, he looks as if he’s going to argue, but all he does is trudge over to the car.

…

When she gets home, she calls Chris, and within ten minutes, and she’s already ready to blow something up.

“Yeah, got it,” she interrupts. “Put Allison on. I need to talk to someone in this damn family that doesn’t make me a combination of suicidal and homicidal.”

“Kate-”

“Chris, I have internet access. Don’t make do something regrettable like, say, make a homemade bomb and blow up something in this godforsaken town.”

“Allison, your Aunt Kate wants to talk to you!” Then, he scolds, “We have a code for a reason, Kate.”

“Yes, and making a joke is a violation of it,” she retorts.

“What if one of your students made that kind of joke?”

“Well, if they wanted to blow something up for their science project, I’d encourage them to go for it. If they talked about blowing up the school, I might feel compelled to talk to the principal.”

She sighs when she hears Allison in the background. 

“Aunt Kate!”

“Hey, sweetheart. How’s my girl?”

“Good. Aunt Kate, does Santa Claus exist? The kids at school say he doesn’t, but Mom and Dad say he does.”

“You know you can ask me anything, honey, but have you tried finding out the answer for yourself?”

“No,” Allison answers. “Mom got me an alarm clock. It has Mulan on it. Maybe on Christmas, I can set it to go off every hour.”

“That’s a good idea,” she agrees. “Who’s Mulan?”

Allison huffs. “Mulan is even cooler than Belle, Aunt Kate. She dressed up like a boy, shot arrows, and climbed up a pole before anyone else could. I wanted hair like hers and Mom’s, but I couldn’t wear the new hair clips Daddy bought me if I did.”

“Mulan’s from a movie, then?”

“Uh-huh,” Allison answers. “Do you want me to mail to you?”

“No, that’s okay, sweetie. They have video stores here. So, if you want to catch Santa, what else are you going to do besides setting your alarm?”

“Or Mom and Dad,” Allison says. “I know. I can…”

“No, that would probably wake the neighbours, sweetheart.”

“Hey, that’s a great idea. Make sure to tell your dad that you’re already smarter than he is.”

“Listen, Allison, you never let any boy tell you that being curious makes you a bad girl. Okay? Not even your dad. If Santa’s real, he’ll be proud of you for being so smart and trying to figure things out on your own.”

“Really? And after she saved his life and all of the other people, he wanted to kill her? Please, tell me they didn’t get together at the end.”

“If Santa’s real, he must be hundreds of years old. Sometimes, old people are just fat. Everyone’s allowed to eat too much candy, cookies, milk, and soda occasionally. If he only does it one night a year, I’d say he…”

Allison yawns. “I’m getting sleepy,” she says.

“Okay,” Kate says. “You should go to bed, then. It was nice to talk to you, sweetheart.”

“You, too,” Allison says. She yawns, again. “I love you.”

“Give the phone back to Daddy,” she says. “And I love you, too, Allison.”

When Chris comes back on, he starts with, “You told her-”

“She still believes in Santa,” Kate interrupts. “And really, you listen in on your nine-year-old daughter’s phone conversations? She’s going to hate you when she gets a little older and starts getting these pesky ideas about privacy.”

“When she talks to you, yes,” Chris snaps.

Before she can responds, Victoria takes the phone. “Hello, Kate. How are you doing up there?”

…

Two days after the phone call, she has Derek stay after class.

Starting to clean the pool, she orders, “Sit.”

“I’ll help,” he says.

Before she can say anything, he does. She imagines, for all his quietness, he’s the type of kid who’s told not to help with the dishes when he goes over to someone’s house and ends washing them by himself before anyone can protest.

Once they’ve gotten it in cleaned, she says, “Okay. Now, sit.”

He hands her jacket to sit on and waits until she does.

“Now, I think you’re old enough to understand that things aren’t always black and white. Some hunters are indiscriminate in their killing, just like some packs are. Most of us, we do what we have to do to protect our own and survive. There’s a whole mess of questions and arguments and debates surrounding bitten werewolves, but one thing I think we can agree on is that people should have the choice.”

“Miss Argent, I know you’re going after Ennis. We don’t care. My mom isn’t going to stop you,” he tells her.

“I’m still healing from that night,” she replies. “You saved me, and that’s why I’m telling you to warn your family that they might want to stay inside tonight. My family’s sent men to help me. I’ve told them to leave your family alone, but I don’t know any of them personally and I’m not going to be out there with them.”

“You don’t hate all werewolves, then?”

“I used to,” she answers. “But again, most people eventually get old enough to realise there’s rarely just black and white.”

“And-” he pauses. “You don’t hate my mom? For what she did to your father?”

“No,” she answers. “Now, you better get to lunch.”

…

A few days after Ennis is killed, she’s sitting in a café enjoying some coffee when a soft voice says, “I don’t know what you’re playing at, but it would be wise to leave, now.”

He tenses. “That plays both ways. I know certain things about you, Miss Argent. I want you to leave my nephew alone. I won’t ask twice.”

She leaves the café.

…

Three days later, she hears, “Miss Argent?”

She looks up from drying her hair to see Derek and a woman she suspects is Talia Hale with a hand on his neck.

“Would you be willing to talk to my son and me?”

“Sure,” she answers. “Have a seat.”

She takes in Derek. He looks sad, embarrassed, and uncomfortable. “Let’s hear what the problem is from you, Hale. It’s time to start learning how to handle things so your mom doesn’t have to.”

“There’s no problem,” Derek insists. “I told her there was no problem.” He shoots his mother a look.

Talia pinches Derek’s neck. “You were so happy in her class, Derek. Miss Argent, we’re here about you transferring Derek to a different swim period.”

“Okay.” She doesn’t try to hide her confusion. “I honestly thought you’d sent your brother.”

“Peter?” Talia inquires.

Derek groans.

“I plan to stay until the end of the year,” she tells them. “If you try to make an issue out of that, I’m not sure how well the truce my family has with yours will hold. However, I can respect you not wanting your kid near me. Your brother approached me in public and warned me to stay away from his nephew.”

A low growl fills the air.

“Public, Derek,” Talia scolds.

“As much as I don’t care for your uncle, I’ll do him this courtesy and suggest you go easy on him, kid. I have a niece I’d do anything to protect. When she’s older, she might not particularly understand that some of what I do is for her own good.”

“Be as that may,” Talia says, “we’re here to ask if you’d reconsider and get Derek back in your class. I apologise for Peter. He acted without my knowledge or consent. Derek has been happier in your class than he’s been all year.”

“Oh, yeah,” she catches his eyes, “what’s so special about me?”

Derek turns pink, shakes his head, and looks down.

“Okay,” she tells Talia. “I’ll get Derek back in my class, but I want Peter to stay away from me. I came to kill Ennis and make some money independent of my family. Unless I have to, I’m certainly not going to go after the family of the boy who saved me.”

Derek sighs, and Talia nods her head. “Thank you, Miss Argent. Derek.”

“Thank you, Miss Argent,” he echoes.

…

One afternoon, he comes in and says, “I got a B minus on my history report. I was wondering if you’d look over and give me advice on how to rewrite for a better grade.”

“Yes, because heaven forbid you have a B on your permanent record,” she teases.

He shrugs. “Straight-A students get to go to a pizza outing at the end of the year.”

“And you want to rub it in Laura’s face when you get to go because she didn’t?”

He nods.

Laughing, she sits down on the bench. “Hand it over.”

“Thank you,” he says.

Once she’s read it, she informs him, “It’s boring. Granted, the teacher is also screwing you over.”

“Okay,” he agrees.

“Sweetie, just ask, ‘What in the hell are you talking about?’”

“What do you mean by Mrs Rose is, uh, being unfair?”

“Oh, dear God, you’re worse than a cliché boy scout,” she announces. He starts to open his mouth, and she says, “Yeah, I know, you don’t actually have boy scouts here. You have eagle or cub or whatever animal scouts. Anyway, the teacher has already read your paper a thousand times. This,” she taps the paper, “is all facts. It’s her job to make sure that kids know all this, but she wants to be entertained or, at least, learn something interesting about her students in the process. She just can’t come out and say this, and so, feedback like this comes in handy.”

“How do I make government-sanctioned paranoia and illegal domestic spying funny?”

“Get tips from Mel Brooks,” she suggests.

He gives her a confused look.

“You’ll discover him when you’re older,” she promises. “I didn’t say you had to be funny. How do you feel about McCarthyism?”

“It was government-sanctioned paranoia and illegal domestic spying,” he answers.

“Okay, well, to you, it’s obvious these are bad things. Would it surprise you to know that not everyone agrees? Or that not everyone thinks McCarthyism really happened the way history books report?”

“They’re wrong,” he declares.

“Go with that take, then,” she suggests. “Bring up the opposing side and why they’re wrong. Go into some detail about why you find it so despicable.”

“What do you think about it?”

“I’ll tell you after you do a rewrite and get a higher letter grade.”

“Thank you, Miss Argent,” he says with a smile.

“No problem,” she says. “Want me to drive you home?”

“Yes, please.”

…

On after afternoon, he says, “I know about the hunter’s code, but when it comes to you personally: Why would you kill yourself if you were bitten?”

She considers the question. “Because, I can understand the appeal of being a werewolf, but I don’t consider them superior; just different. I’m proud to be a human. I proud of my strengths, and the weaknesses I can’t overcome, I’m proud of finding ways to live with them. You wouldn’t like it if you turned into a human for more than one night once in a blue moon, would you?”

“No,” he answers. “But,” he hastily clarifies, “I don’t think I’m superior, either. Humans don’t have to deal with the effects of the full moon or with so much sensory input.”

“That’s why I’d never consent to the bite, and if someone took away my humanity against my will- I don’t think I could ever be at peace with myself enough to learn how to control things. That leaves me either chained up with wolfs bane vapours and mountain ash once a month, potentially hurting people, or living in almost complete isolation. Death is a better option for me.”

He processes this.

“I’ll never let anyone hurt you while you’re here,” he promises.

“That’s sweet, but saving me once was enough,” she says. “Are you ready to ask the question you’ve been trying to build the courage to ask for a while now?”

“It’s about your father,” he says, “and I don’t really know how to ask it.”

“I’ll take pity on you,” she replies. “I miss my dad every day. I was his pride and joy, and he was my hero. That doesn’t mean his death wasn’t just. I don’t like terms like ‘psychopath’, ‘psychotic’, and ‘sociopathic’. Sometimes, people don’t have to be crazy to do bad things. They just need the right push, and even then, sometimes, they can surprise themselves. But I can admit things now that he’s gone that I couldn’t when he was alive. He wasn’t a protector. He wasn’t on the side of the angels or even the humans. He screwed me and the rest of our family over, but he was so good about how he did it that none of us would have listened to such accusations. People are supposed to have regrets, Derek, but some of mine- I shouldn’t have them, but because of him, I do.”

“I’m glad you managed to get through it,” he says.

Feeling a genuine warmth, she smiles and puts her arms around his shoulders. “Thank you.”

…

Before class starts, one of the students, Lucy Dixon, says, “Miss Argent, I’m supposed to bring flowers to my art class today. Would it be okay if I sat them with my purse on the bleachers instead of putting them in my locker?”

“That’s fine,” she answers.

“Thank you.”

While Lucy wanders away, Kate gets the eardrops out of the cabinet and motions for another student to come over. “Right side first,” she orders.

Before she can apply the drops, she hears a low growl and freezes. Turning, she sees Derek stumbling. Faster than she can move, he’s in the pool.

Taking in the blue eyes and claws, she drops the eardrops, grabs a nearby towel off one of the students, and dives in.

Underwater, she quickly wraps the towel around his head and drags him up. “No crowding,” she orders. She leads him to the bench while forcing his hands to stay clenched in fists. “Someone go get the nurse, and someone go to the office. The rest of you, go to the locker room, now.”

As everyone complies, she mentally retraces his steps and sees the flowers Lucy brought.

Mistletoe, her mind supplies.

Seeing everyone is out of the room, she removes her hands and the towel. “Find your anchor or balance or whatever,” she orders.

“I’m fine.” He looks up with green eyes and unclenches his fists to shows regular nails.

Sighing, she sits down. “I’m sorry, Derek. I didn’t think to check what kind of flowers Lucy had.”

“It’s okay.”

“Want to talk about your blue eyes?”

He subtly scoots away and insists, “They’re not- I’m not-”

“Hey,” she reaches over to flick his arm, “it was a question. I don’t know for sure what blue eyes even mean. If you don’t want to talk, don’t. If you do, I’m here.”

…

A few days after the pool incident, he’s helping her clean the pool when he blurts out, “It was Peter’s fault. I’ve never killed in cold blood.”

She looks up from where she’s checking the chlorine levels. “What happened?”

He tells her, and if not for the truce, she’d call for back up and cut Peter Hale in half herself.

…

At the end of the year, Talia and Derek appear with a gift bag in Talia’s hand. “I wanted to personally thank you, Miss Argent, for all you’ve done for Derek.”

“There’s no need, but thanks.” She accepts the bag. “Just a minute.”

Withdrawing a Polaroid camera, she moves Derek away from Talia. “Be still.”

She snaps a picture and shows it to them both.

Reaching over, she puts her hand on his shoulder. “You’re going to grow up in all the right places, I can tell. Say you mean, and mean what you say. But seeing as you have the gift for tact, utilise it. Okay?”

“Okay.” He hugs her.

Laughing softly, she returns the hug.

…

Years later, she’s upstairs unpacking boxes in Chris and Victoria’s new house when she hears the front door open and Allison call up, “Kate, don’t tell Mom and Dad, but I gave someone a ride. He says he knows you!”

Grabbing a Taser, Kate rushes down and relaxes slightly when she recognises a grown up Derek Hale. Definitely in all the right places, she thinks. Reaching over, she orders, “Allison, come over here.”

Derek’s eyes briefly flash blue, and although she hadn’t thought it was likely he had somehow become an alpha, she still crosses having to try to check her niece for a bite mark off her list.

“Never do that again,” she orders Allison. To Derek, she comments, “Long time no see. Are you just passing through?”

“Could we talk privately?”

“Yeah, sure,” she agrees. “Allison, sweetheart, Derek’s an old student from when I taught in Beacon Hills. Although, he’s not too old to be immune to your-”

“Kate,” Allison practically hisses.

“You need to start breaking hearts, baby girl. You’re almost a woman, and you need the practise for when you have to start dealing with men.”

“It was nice to meet you,” Allison tells Derek. She gives Kate an adorably disgruntled look and quickly heads up to her room.

She waits until they hear Allison’s door close to ask, “What’s going on?”

“Peter’s the alpha, now,” he informs her.

“Peter? First, what happened to Talia, and second, didn’t you tell me that Laura was the one most likely to inherit?”

“They’re both dead,” he answers.

“Oh, sweetie,” she sighs. “What happened? Come on, let’s sit in the kitchen.”

“Supposedly, a group of hunters killed them. He killed the hunters in vengeance.”

“You don’t think that’s true?”

“I think there are a lot of things about Peter becoming the alpha that are- convenient,” he answers. “I can’t bring this up to my family, and I don’t know who our emissary is.”

“I wouldn’t mind helping you, but I have to warn you, if it turns out he did make a power play, I will go after him,” she tells him. “The treaty was with your mom. If Laura had become the alpha, it would have been held as a gesture of good faith unless she proved herself a threat. Right now, it’s the same with Peter. But if he killed hunters he’d collaborated with, that’s proof he can’t be trusted not to go after innocent humans.”

“I know,” he answers. “I can’t kill him. I’m not alpha material. I want the power to settle in the best member of the pack, even if it means one of the children.”

“What if he is innocent?”

“Then, I’ll admit what I suspected.”

“Even if that means he kills or disowns you?”

“Yes,” he answers.

“Okay,” she says. “Personally, I wish I’d cut him in half years ago, but if he’s innocent, I’ll keep the treaty held.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. Stay here while I go talk to Allison. We leave in an hour.”

He grabs her wrist. “Really,” he says, “thank you. I didn’t have anyone else to turn to.”

“You saved my life,” she reminds him. “If I can take away some of your pain, it’s only fair.”

...

They head back to Beacon Hills with him in the passenger’s seat.


End file.
